1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the transmission of electronic messages over computer networks, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for managing and manipulating a plurality of electronic messages on the basis of pre-determined criteria.
2. Background of the Invention
During the past decade, electronic mail (“e-mail”) has become an indispensable tool for facilitating business and personal communications. Through computer networking systems such as local-area networks (“LAN”), wide-area networks (“WAN”), and the world-wide web (“WWW”), network users can send and receive notes, letters, documents and other messages to communicate with others who are in the same office or in remote locations across the world.
E-mail application programs typically comprise client-server applications. That is, a mail server application (“mail server”), running on a server computer, provides centralized e-mail services for multiple users. The mail server application coordinates with other mail servers running on the network to send and receive e-mail messages composed by or addressed to local users. Any suitable protocol, for example, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”), can be used to coordinate different mail server applications. Typically e-mail messages (inbound, outbound and in some cases, even “draft” e-mail messages) are stored by the mail server in “mailboxes” assigned to each user. These mailboxes typically comprise one or more files or directories (also known as folders) on a physical storage medium, e.g., a hard disk on the server computer.
Users typically use a client application running on a local computer to retrieve their e-mail messages from the mail server. As known in the art, client applications communicate with mail server applications using any suitable protocol (e.g., Post Office Protocol (“POP” or “POP3”) or Internet Message Access Protocol (“IMAP” or “IMAP4”)). Generally, e-mail messages are created, viewed and/or managed using the client application. That is, the client application must be opened (i.e., executed) on the client computer to access the e-mail messages.
After downloading a user's e-mail messages from the user's mail server, the mail server application may be instructed to automatically delete the message from the user's mailbox on the server. Alternatively, a copy of the message may be retained on the server for later access. In either case, after retrieving the e-mail messages, the user may read the messages on the local computer even if the server computer is no longer accessible.
E-mail service providers typically limit the amount of physical storage space available for each customer. Such limits are typically used to ensure adequate storage space is available for other users, and in some cases are necessary to ensure adequate operational efficiency of the mail server. Implementation of such limits typically include restrictions on the aggregate file size for all e-mail messages in a particular user's mailbox. In some cases, e-mail service providers limit the total number of e-mail messages stored by a user on the server. Because of such limits, e-mail users face the recurring problem of meeting or exceeding the storage space limits imposed by their e-mail service providers. E-mail service provider policies may vary with respect to the consequences of exceeding the allotted storage space. For example, the service provider may prevent additional e-mail from being sent or received by the user until the amount of storage space is reduced, or the service provider may assess additional charges on the user for each message or storage space unit over the limit. Regardless of the policy employed, the inconvenience or additional costs imposed on a user can be severe.
To overcome these limits, users typically delete e-mail messages from the server after downloading them to the local computer. However, this approach results in other problems or inconveniences for many users. For example, if a user accidentally deletes one or more messages from the local computer, and the local computer system has not been backed up, important e-mail messages may be permanently lost. Additionally, some e-mail users do not have a dedicated local computer for downloading and saving e-mail messages. Such users may access their e-mail from shared access computers or from public access terminals. For these users, the mail server may be the only permanent storage location available. Finally, if e-mail messages are maintained on the mail server, the messages are available to the user from any client application running on the network. Accordingly, e-mail users need the capability to store and manage e-mail messages on the mail server not withstanding the limits on mail server storage facilities.
Downloading and storing e-mail messages on a local computer may solve the problems described above as they relate to the e-mail server application and host computer. However, many of the same problems could arise with respect to the user's client application and local computer system. For example, the local computer may have only a limited amount of storage space, or the client application may experience performance problems if the user's local mailbox is too large. Generally, the user's mailbox size will be proportional to the number of e-mail messages in the mailbox and the aggregate message size of the items within. Accordingly, a need exists for methods and systems for managing and compacting e-mail messages stored on a local computer system.
To compound the problem, e-mail messages typically comprise one or more attached files, greatly increasing the size of the e-mail messages. Users typically export (i.e., save) e-mail messages and or attachments to a location external to the client application and files. Once an e-mail message or attachment has been exported, it may be viewed or managed using other suitable application programs. The problem with exporting e-mail messages and attachments is that users lose the inherent ability of the e-mail client application to manage e-mail messages in the form they were received. For example, e-mail messages associated with a recurring subject (also known as “threads”) may not be readily viewed external to the e-mail client. Similarly, if an attachment is separated from the e-mail message, it becomes more difficult to locate the attachment and to determine when it was sent or received and who the sender or recipient was for the document. Accordingly, e-mail users need the capability to store and manage e-mail messages on local computers without losing the beneficial features of the mail client application.
Current e-mail server and client applications do not provide efficient tools for users to effectively manage the size or number of e-mail messages. E-mail client and server applications typically allow users to sort e-mail messages by date, subject, or the sender or receiver's name. However, such applications do not allow the user to sort or screen e-mail messages by size, and they do not provide the capability to compact e-mail messages or attachments for future access within the e-mail application. A need therefore exists for the capability for e-mail users to manage the size of e-mail messages whether stored on a mail server or on a client computer system.